2000-03-25 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 03-25-00Page 33 of 34 RAY: Okay, thank you. We’ll entertain brief additional comments, if folks want. Just make sure you introduce yourself again so we get it on the record. P. MARTIN: Pete Martin, Kailua-Kona. I just want to suggest to you that whatever you do put on the ballot, for the consideration of the voters, that you make sure that whoever writes it speaks English. Make it very, very plain. Don’t make it legalese. Don’t make it legalese. Make it so that when someone reads it, they understand what it is you’re asking them to vote on. Too often, we end up with double negatives. We end up in an absolute maze of language where people don’t understand even what you’re asking them to vote on. So, make sure that it’s very plain, and very simple, and very direct. Thank you. RAY: Thank you. Mike. CHRISTOPHER: I had another point, but actually, on that last point, at the University I used to teach at, the English Department had a class ‘Why Lawyers Can’t Speak English’, and they would actually take legislation and apply the rules of grammar to it, and show that this was not English that most of our laws were written in, and that the interpretations were often quite bizarre that came out of it. But anyway, my other point was - I think, Marni, you said did I have any specific suggestions on how to put output budgeting or Civil Grand Jury. I can come up with some if you tell me there’s a chance that they would actually end up on there. If no, then I’m not going to spend my time doing that. RAY: I think the budgeting would be very seriously entertained. I think that’s something we’re very supportive of. IRVINE: We do need it very soon. CHRISTOPHER: And what would be the deadline, if I came up with something, that you’d - HERKES: April 4th. RAY: No, in the next month. CHRISTOPHER: Well, April 4th isn’t the next month. That’s like a week from now. RAY: No, I’m saying in the next month. CHRISTOPHER: A month. Okay, I’ll give it some thought. Maybe I can come up - even a month is kind of short. YUEN: No, on that point. The most useful thing would be probably be to find a community that has a Charter whose budget works the way you want. CHRISTOPHER: Okay. YUEN: Because, although we may want to re-invent government, we don’t want to re-invent the wheel, and so if there’s some city that has a - CHRISTOPHER: Okay, I’ll do a little research. I know of some communities that have budgets that I’d like to see imitated. I’m not sure if it’s Charter-based, so I’ll do a little checking. RAY: All right. Anything else? Well, thank you very much. This has been, by far, our most engaging and worthwhile audience, and I really appreciate you folks coming out. Anything you can get to us, the more specific and in writing, and sooner rather than later, we’d really appreciate it. Thank you very much. ADJOURNMENT RAY: So, I’ll adjourn the public hearing. Thank you. The discussion ended at 12:35 p.m. file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 03-25-00.html7/1/2011